First Batch

Well, I have FINALLY completed my "open barrel" BD processor with a LOT of help from Fabman. Before going great guns with a full batch, I am going to make a 5 gal batch in a small drum with a paint mixer and drill motor.
My question is, I did a titration on the WVO I got from a friend's restaurant. The results were as follows. It titrated to 2ml of KOH/H2O which equates to 2 extra grams of KOH per liter of WVO in addition to the base 7 grams per liter. This means if I use 9 grams of KOH per liter I should be OK. Of course I am still going to abide by Don's suggestion of watching for the mix to turn "tar black or else add more KOH. Do I have this right? If all goes well, I will run a full batch and also post pics of my portable (trailer mount) BD processor. Tom

Good for you Tom! I knew you could do it! One thing tho, you should use 7.8 as your base amount if your KOH is 90% pure.

I can't beleve your going to do a small batch first. When I made my first batch I built a 100 gallon appleseed style processor and filled it up for the first batch................wound up with 100 gallons of "glop" Ok, maybe a test batch first is a good idea

Good for you Tom! I knew you could do it! One thing tho, you should use 7.8 as your base amount if your KOH is 90% pure.

I can't beleve your going to do a small batch first. When I made my first batch I built a 100 gallon appleseed style processor and filled it up for the first batch................wound up with 100 gallons of "glop" Ok, maybe a test batch first is a good idea

I don't know what the purity of the KOH is. (I bought it on EBay from a guy who goes by Dudanation) Don't know whether you know of him. If there is a question of purity, I should probably go with your suggestion to be sure.
Another question I have. In one post you (or someone else) said to use 5 gal methoxide for 25 gal WVO. In another post, (this one by you) it states that you put 50 gal of oil in the mix tank and add 5 gal methoxide. I don't know which recipe to use. Please enlighten me. Thanks Don

Good for you Tom! I knew you could do it! One thing tho, you should use 7.8 as your base amount if your KOH is 90% pure.

I can't beleve your going to do a small batch first. When I made my first batch I built a 100 gallon appleseed style processor and filled it up for the first batch................wound up with 100 gallons of "glop" Ok, maybe a test batch first is a good idea

Sure glad I only did a small batch. I have 20 liters of brown "gook" I have seen this on other posts so I must have made a classic mistake.
Here are the particulars; All measurements were precise.
20 liters WVO (titrated to 2 grams plus 7.8 base grams KOH)
Heated WVO to 150 Deg. Added 1 gal.Methoxide and proceeded to mix.
Mixture was not tar colored as you mentioned so I added 1 gram KOH.
No change in color but proceeded anyway.
Let separate 12 hours-medium brown gravy that looks like someone didn't mix the flour in properly when they made the gravy.
Mistakes I could have made: WVO was not maintained at 145 deg during mix (130 at best)
I dumped methoxide in all at once, then started mixing.
Inside of container was painted and it started peeling off. (I filtered before going to separater. Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated. Tom

Good for you Tom! I knew you could do it! One thing tho, you should use 7.8 as your base amount if your KOH is 90% pure.

I can't beleve your going to do a small batch first. When I made my first batch I built a 100 gallon appleseed style processor and filled it up for the first batch................wound up with 100 gallons of "glop" Ok, maybe a test batch first is a good idea

Yeah I remember my first batch, I made a 100 gallon setup, then decided to do a "SMALL" 40 gal test batch, and wound up with 40 gallons of "GLOP", it makes me laugh to see how far I've come in a year and half, I've already threw 2 reactors away and build new, more efficient ones.

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